After sitting for 3 weeks my daughter's Jimmy is suddenly taking several turns of the key to get it to crank, something it has never done before in the year that she has had it. The first few tries you here a small click under the hood and nothing else, which I assume is the starter relay. Then, on the fourth turn of the key or so, the starter cranks rapidly, just like normal, and it starts. I've searched the forum and it seems that most of the time when just the relay clicks, the starter never turns. Do you think there is a chance there is a bad wiring connection on the starter solenoid or is the solenoid going bad, which means I need to replace the starter. I find it odd that it would change from not doing anything to cranking normally without doing anything other than turning the key several times. Since the starter relay is clicking when the key is turned, the ignition switch and neutral safety switch are working fine. Also, the battery is only a year old, the connections are tight and the lights don't dim when the key is turned. Unfortunately I don't have much time to diagnose it since she needs to drive back to college (700 miles away) this weekend.

 

it could be the starter solenoid, could be the starter, or could be bad connections. the best thing to is get someone to help and grab a test light, SAFELY crawl under the vehicle and start testing the connections, have the second person turn the key as if they were cranking it over but only have them hold the key it if the vehicle doesn't start cranking (if it just clicks) then starting from the battery cables, test to the starter solenoid and finally to the starter and see where your power ends. if you have power to the starter solenoid but not out of it then the solenoid is bad. but if you have power out it could be your starter itself or a bad ground. best way is to just pull the starter and bench test it. chances are your contacts in your solenoid are burnt or corroded and they have to hit in just a certain spot to send power through to the starter. (hence why you have to turn the key multiple times before it will make contact and crank the engine)

 

Thanks for the info, do you know if the solenoids on these starters can be disassembled so that the contacts can be cleaned? I've done that before on various cars, but didn't if these solenoids are designed to be disassembled.

 

i'm do not know for sure, I've never had one out before, but looking at a picture of one i think you may be able to it even looks like they sell just the solenoid so you may be able to just replace it to if thats whats bad, some else on here may be able to answer this for you.
http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts/...FY1DMgodijoAYw

 

Here is a followup on what I did to fix the problems. Basically it came down to lose connections. I accessed the wiring on the starter by removing the right front tire and wheel and lifting up the flap on the plastic inner splash guard that is inside of the wheel. Unfortunately, while you can see the wiring there is very little clearance between the frame and the bottom of the exhaust manifold to actually do anything. I ended up cleaning the connections by just spraying electrical contact cleaner on them and blowing them off with compressed air (I know, not the best way but there was not room to take anything apart. After trying multiple wrenches I did end up, over the course of an hour or so, getting both connections tightened. I used a small 8 mm 12 point box end wrench on the nut on the wire coming from the starter relay and a 12 point half inch socket on a 3/8 inch socket wrench to tighten up the nut on the wire coming from the battery. Unfortunately there isn't really enough room to move the socket wrench even one click so you have to try the wrench then take it off and turn the socket one click and then trying it again on the nut until you can turn the nut a little - maybe about every fourth click or so. Eventually you can get the nut tight. I then tightened up the battery cables on the battery and it cranked right over first try and every time since them. The best thing was, no money was spent on the repair.

 

glad to hear that you got it worked out, i ran into several situations like that with a few of my vehicles that i have which sit around a lot.